Many Views of Death
by Padfoot Reincarnated
Summary: Obi Wan is asked a painful question, and finds he's been lying to himself for a very long time.


"How did my father die?"

You know he means nothing by it, can't see the invisible daggers he's just thrust into you. He can't see it, but that doesn't make it any less real, doesn't erase any of the pain that hits you now in one nauseating blow. It can't stop your mind from reeling down paths you swore never to tread again, anymore than it can erase the Things and Events that paved the way so long ago.

You can feel him staring at you, keen to know your answer. He's never heard anything of his father. He just wants to know. Tell him!

But you can't, because when you try to open your mouth and create something that resembles speech, he is there, your friend, Anakin. He is showing all the many places you can stand to look at those last few years when you were still happy. Or at least you thought you were happy. And he guides you from view to view. From each place the scene is so much the same, and yet so different. See? Asks Anakin, guiding you up to a familiar point, where Anakin himself is mostly hidden but the friendship exposed, It wasn't my fault. I didn't fall, you pushed me. Your fault, your fault your fault yourfaultyourfault.

And you can see, from where you stand, that he is right. I always was, he says. But you don't like it there, in that cold place, where shadows follow you and try to get you. So you leave that place, and move quickly to a jutting cliff that you've built yourself in the past few years. It is perfect. From here you can't see any of the Bad Things, the evil that you wove into your tapestry. In this place you cannot hear the voices that call to you. You cannot see Anakin, watching the scene from over there, and so you cannot see what he sees. He is there, of course. You know because you can almost hear him, like a whisper. Your fault. And he tugs on you, in the back of your mind. Come watch from over here, come see what I see. You pushed me.

No. I'm not coming over there again. Watch from where ever you like, Anakin. I like it here.

Here, you can see it very clearly. How a Sith Lord rose and killed all your friends, but most of all he killed Anakin. Yes. This view may not be pleasant. But it doesn't burn your eyes and make you want to look away. It doesn't make you want to kill yourself (pushed). It doesn't make you remember that last awful duel. And even if you did, from here, all you can see of the duel is yourself and a Sith Lord. Anakin was already dead then. Yes.

There are so many other places you could have gone to. Maybe it would be nice sometime to just walk around here. You could look from every single spot. You know there are places here in this dark world that you haven't visited. Of course you've already been to so many places there can't be too many left by now. Qui-gon's fault. Yoda's fault. The Council, Master Windu, his mother, Watto. Anakin's fault. And yours.

But today, you will not go there. No, not today. Today you stay on your own cliff. Where everything is good.

But then as you close your eyes and prepare to leave and go back to Luke, and tell him you've found the answer, you know, they are both there. There is Anakin, and there is Luke, dancing around you. How did Anakin Skywalker die? How did Anakin Skywalker die?

And then Qui-Gon, your master, watching the dance. Master! Tell them! Tell me!

It was your fault, padawan. Your fault!

No! I don't like that place. I won't go there! I won't look from there!

So you force them to let you go. There's Luke, the real Luke. And so you aren't lying. Because you went to get answer to his question. And you got one.

"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine before he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father."

And because of what you saw it's true.

How did Anakin Skywalker die?

A/N:

So that's it. Probably a lot longer than it needed to be. Ya, please review. All belongs to George Lucas. But if he wants to give it to me I won't have any complaints. So ya, I hope you enjoyed, but please review even if you didn't. 


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